EXCLUSIVE NO, NOT LIKE THAT.. HE HAS TO TURN SALESMAN FOR CELEB APPRENTICE

Jonathan Ross has spoken openly for the first time of his disgrace, joking he could end up hosting a shopping channel.

The presenter quipped about his post-Manuelgate future on a charity celebrity edition of The Apprentice.

After Ross made a speech at London's County Hall as part of a challenge, Sir Alan Sugar told him: "You made a great presentation. You should go on Bid-Up TV."

To which Ross replied: "That's the way I think I'm heading."

And when Ross took to the stage to try to flog a children's toy, he joked: "I've managed to escape from witness protection today." The filming on Friday night was his first public engagement since the outcry over Manuelgate in which two BBC executives lost their jobs and comic Russell Brand resigned.

Ross, suspended for 12 weeks after making abusive phone calls to Fawlty Towers actor Andrews Sachs, was allowed on the show because it will be screened after his suspension ends in March. One guest said: "Cracking jokes was probably the best way to handle the situation but Ross did seem more subdued."

It will not be known until next year if Sir Alan fired him.

Ross's quips came the night before the BBC made a live apology to Sachs on Radio 2. The wording was changed for a repeat after the actor complained the apology should also have been made to his wife and daughter.

Meanwhile, Russell Brand said the affair will not change his "unrestrained, unbridled and authentic" style.

He said: "Andrew Sachs has accepted my apology. I can't let it change what I do as a performer. It was daft, not malicious."